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Widerøe / I’m A Substitute For Another Guy

This story originally appeared on Contagious I/O, our intelligence tool featuring the most creative and effective ideas in marketing from around the world

Norwegian airline launches tongue-in-cheek business service startup

Widerøe, Scandinavia’s largest regional airline, has launched a service that provides substitute business people to take your place at meetings, conferences and even personal events.

Anyone unable to attend a meeting or event in person, can visit the airline’s Norsk Møteservice (Norwegian Meeting Service) website and book a replacement. Pick the date, time and type of event – as well as the location, from a list of Widerøe’s 43 regional destinations. An agent profile can also be specified. Do you want them to be more introverted or extroverted? Pragmatic or quarrelsome? Should their humour be dry wit or slapstick? You can even specify the strength of their handshake.

Once all the preferences have been set, the user can get a price offer by entering their email address.

In addition to the campaign film explaining the service, the website features ten mini-webisodes of the stock-image-esque characters hard at work. These shorts, reminiscent of TV show The Office, contain subtle snippets of information about the airline. For example: ‘We are strategically based in Sandefjord, near Torp airport, so we can reach anywhere in Norway at any time.’ And: ‘The company has only nine people and Widerøe has this event discount for a minimum of ten people. So that’s where I come in.’

The site also has motivational gifs of each agent available to download and share with any colleagues that seem like they need a boost.

Selling point / A key challenge for many airlines is letting potential customers know the extent of the routes it offers. And this campaign is an uncoventional way of reminding anyone in Norway that Widerøe has 43 destinations across the country. By launching a business-focused startup, the airline also directly targets the corporate sector.

‘Business meetings that require traveling to other cities can take up to 40% of an employee’s time in a month,’ McCann Oslo explained in a press release. ‘If you add other travel purposes to this percentage, one can end-up traveling more than 50% of a month.’ If these statistics are correct, then convincing business people to fly with Widerøe could be very profitable.

Brand differentiator / The large amount of travelling being done by business people also means that they might be tempted by an airline that offers a bit more excitement – or is, at least, not boring. The tongue-in-cheek nature of the campaign brings a brand feel to the airline that differentiates it from its competitors. People who work in corporate jobs can actually have personalities or even (gasp) a sense of humour, and this campaign appeals to them directly. Plus, with webisodes, gifs and a satirical ad, its shareable on so many levels.

This story originally appeared on Contagious I/O, our intelligence tool featuring the most creative and effective ideas in marketing from around the world. I/O helps anyone in the world of marketing understand why brands are innovating, how they're doing it and with what success.